Hand-held portable and inflatable Personal flotation device

ABSTRACT

This stick type portable inflatable personal floating device is designed to help a victim escape from under the water quickly or to keep him/her at the surface of the water easily until rescuers come. This device is designed by minimizing size to maximize portability. Thus, because of the small size, it can save a lot of space to store and enable to give a lot of freedom for those who carry it. All of the structures and parts are designed to be simplified and hand-worked for minimizing the possibility of malfunction in use. The usage is also simple and can be earned intuitively. Because of the minimal size, it can be stored even in a small vehicle such as a boat or car. And, because of the light weight, it can be stored in airplane as a lifesaver. And, a diver can carry it conveniently when diving because of the compact size.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention is designed to save the life of a victim facing an emergency situation when submerged underwater. If the victim wears it on his/her wrist and grabs its handle, by the lifting power of this device, he/she can be raised to the surface of the water quickly and easily. This inflatable life-saving float is designed to maximize the convenience of portability. It can be also used on the surface of water to keep a victim floating.

BACKGROUND ART

There are many existing life-saving floats which have already been invented in various forms. The life-vest and doughnut type lifesavers are especially the most popular lifesavers which are being used all around the world. These kinds of lifesavers, however, are designed to emphasize strong floating power, but not hand-held portability to prepare for every emergency. Therefore, there are certain limits to these other flotation devices to save people who are in danger when already submerged underwater. These types of lifesavers cannot immediately meet the demands of a victim who faces sudden danger when pulled by force underwater. These existing lifesavers can be useful when a victim is already on the surface of the water.

Therefore, if passengers of a ship or a car are already submerged in the transportation vehicle underwater from an unexpected accident, or if a diver is in distress under the water, it is impossible for existing life-saving equipment such as the life-vest and doughnut type lifesaver to save the passengers because of inconvenient portability and inaccessibility because the victim is not yet on the surface of the water. Underwater, people face strong water resistance and hydraulic pressure. Therefore, even if a victim still has consciousness, it is often difficult for him/her to escape from underwater by him/herself. Furthermore, if a victim is not familiar with water, because of extreme fear, he/she will panic, which makes it difficult to escape to the surface of the water quickly and properly. The consequence would be a deadly result. Therefore, in these kinds of situations, people need a specific personal life-saving float with minimal size and weight, maximum portability and accessibility.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

This device is designed to help a victim who is in danger underwater to be raised to the surface quickly by its lifting power. Also, once on the surface of water a victim can use it to keep floating until rescuers come. This inflatable float can be equipped easily in transportation vehicles such as ships, motor vehicles, and even airplanes because of its portable size. It can also be conveniently carried by a diver underwater.

Solution to Problem

This device is designed to quickly help a victim who is in danger under or on the water using the lifting power of the air bag. On the bottom of the stick type body, an assembly of a strap and a fastener is attached. The victim wears this strap on his/her wrist in case of an emergency and adjusts the fastener to tighten the strap on his/her wrist to keep the device from slipping from the victim's hand by accident or mistake because of its strong lifting power. And, inside of the bottom of the body, an air storage filled with compressed air is installed. On the upper side of the body, a folded air bag is mounted, covered by a plastic case. Between the air storage and air bag, an air valve is installed, which the user can turn to release the compressed gas from the air storage to the air bag in case of emergency.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

This device is designed to help a victim in danger from an accident on or under the water. And, it can also help a diver who is exhausted or with a cramp in his/her legs while underwater. When he/she is too weak to escape from under the water by themselves, by using this device, he/she can surface quickly. It can also help those who have a sudden cramp in their body while swimming in the water. If they wear this floatable device on their wrist and inflate it, it can support them to float on the water until rescuers come.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is the plane figure of this device which shows its inner structure.

FIG. 2 is the perspective view of this device which shows its exterior.

FIG. 3 is the plane figure of this device which shows the expanded air bag with the removed case.

FIG. 4 shows the proper handling of this device.

FIG. 5 is an imaginary picture which shows how a victim can escape from a submerged car with this device.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The detailed explanations of this device with its figures is as below. As shown in FIG. 1, this device can be largely divided into two parts; first, the body is an assembly of a handle part (3) and stick type plastic case part (7), second, an assembly of a strap (1) which a victim can wear on his/her wrist and an adjusting device (2) on this strap. The second part is attached to the bottom of the body part. The stick shaped main body also can be divided largely into two parts. These two parts are fastened together in the form of a screw cap. In case of emergency, if the user twists the upper case following the direction of the arrow marks on the outside of the case, these two parts will be separated easily. Inside of the lower part, a small gas storage (4) containing compressed gas is installed. This gas storage has an inlet (10) on its bottom for charging the gas and to check the gas pressure easily. In an emergency, if the user turns the gas valve (5), the compressed gas will flow into the air bag (8) through the nozzle (6). Then, the air bag which is folded and preserved inside of the upper body will be inflated by the gas. The exterior of the lower body (3) is covered by a soft rubber type material, to keep the device from easily slipping from the victim's hand in the water. It has a wave shape to help the user grip the handle easily. The handle part has a half-circle shaped protective part (9).

The outer case (7) of the body is made of plastic. It protects the folded air bag inside when in normal condition, and is removed in an emergency. The exterior of the case is colored yellow so that a victim can find this device easily inside a vehicle. And, on the surface of the case are big red arrow signs to show how to remove the case quickly and properly. (FIG. 2)

The strap (1), which is attached on the bottom of the handle of the body, transmits the strong lifting power of the air bag to the victim's wrist. Therefore, it should be made of a material strong enough to endure the strong lifting power. An adjusting accessory which is assembled with the strap helps to tighten the strap on a victim's wrist to keep the device from slipping off of the victim by a mistake or an accident. It is also helpful when rescuing a victim who has already lost consciousness in the water. It can also be useful to rescue a child who is too young to quickly grip this device by him/herself under the water.

The actual instructions of how to use this device are shown in the FIG. 4. A victim who is in or under the water wears the strap of this device on his/her wrist. Then, he/she adjusts the accessory of the strap to tighten it, to keep the device from slipping away by mistake or accident. The victim grabs the handle part of this device firmly. And, the victim twists the upper case part by following the direction of the arrow marks on the case to expose the folded air bag (8) and gas valve (5). Finally, when the victim turns the gas valve, the compressed gas of the air storage will flow into the air bag through the nozzle and expand it. Then, by the increasing lifting power of the air bag, the victim can escape to the surface of the water. On the surface, the victim can be sustained while waiting for help by floating until rescuers reach him/her. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A hand-held portable and inflatable Personal flotation device comprising: a strap attached to the bottom of the main body of the floating device; an adjusting part of said strap to tighten said strap on a user's wrist to prevent this device from slipping off the user's wrist. This assembly of said strap part is attached to the bottom of the main body of this device; an assembly of the main body: inside of the lower part of the stick type body, a small charged gas storage which contains compressed gas is installed. The upper part of this gas storage is connected to a gas valve which has a push-and-turn unlocking system for use. By using this gas valve, the gas can flow into the air bag which is located on the opposite side of the gas storage to inflate it. In a preserving condition, the air bag is folded inside of a stick type plastic case to minimize its volume.
 2. The assembly of inflatable floating life-saving device of claim 1, wherein the exterior of the upper case of the main body of the device is colored with yellow to make it easy to find. And, on the surface of the case, three big red arrow marks are attached to show right direction, so the user can remove the case quickly.
 3. The assembly of inflatable floating life-saving device of claim 1, wherein the inflatable air bag is colored yellow to be found easily on the surface of water by rescuers.
 4. The assembly of inflatable floating life-saving device of claim 1, wherein the outside of the lower part of the body is a handle. It is covered with a rubber type material to prevent it from slipping from the hand in the water. This handle part has a wave shape to make it easy to grip. It has a half-circle shaped protective part.
 5. The assembly of inflatable floating life-saving device of claim 1, wherein at the bottom of the main body of this device, there is an inlet for charging gas. It can be also used to check the pressure of the gas in the storage. 